The united opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1881-1970, 1887-06-24
MUNICIPAL CRIME.
HOW. DR.. TALMAoE PROPOSES TO
IH. DECREASE IT. "-- a.
A Filthy City Always Wicked City.
The Newspapers Of . Place . Test Of
Its neutrality-suspicious. Education
Advocated. r. frf .lI.M .U


Advocated. U..frfI d..
BROOKLYN, June 10.-This morning a,
the Tabernacle the Rev. 7. d. Witt Tai
mage read previous to the sermon, por'
tions of Scripture descriptive Of ancient
cities and gave out the hymn:
''Fields are white the harvest waiting;
Who will bear the sheaves away"
His text was, "And the men Of the city
said unto Elisha, Behold, pray thee, the
situation OF this city Is pleasant, as my
Lord seeth; but the water Is naught and
the ground barren. And he said, Bring
me new cruise, and put salt therein. AID
they brought 1t to him. And he went
forth unto the spring Of the waters, and
cast the salt in there, and said, Thus said
the Lord, have healed these waters;
there shall not be from thence any more
death or barren land. So the waters were
healed unto this day." II Kings il, 1929.
DR.. Talmage said: 1t is difficult to
estimate how much Of the prosperity
and health Of "a city are dependent
upon good water. The time when
through well laid pipes and from safe
reservoir an abundance Of water from
Croton or Ridgewood Or Schuylkill Is
brought into the city Il appropriately Gel
ebrated with grafton and pyrotechnic dis
play Thank God every day for clear,
bright, beautiful sparkling water as 1t
drops in the shower or losses up in the
fountain or rushes out at the hydrant. 4
The city Of Jericho, notwithstanding all
it, physical and commercial advantages,
was lacking I'm this important element.
There was enough water, but 1t was dis
eased, and the people were crying out by
reason thereof. Elisha, the prophet, comes
to the rescue. He sayss "Get me new
cruise; I'LL it with salt and bring it to me. !"
So the cruise Of salt was brought to the
prophet, and I see him walking out to the
general reservoir, and he takes that salt
and throws 1t into the reservoir, and 10!
all the impurities depart, through a SUPER
natural and divine influence, and the
waters are good and fresh and clear, and
all the people clap their hands and lift up
their faces in the gladness. Water for
Jericho - clear, bright, beautiful, God
given water! .. tI-
At different times have pointed out to
you the fountains of municipal corruption
and this morning I propose to show you
what are the means for the rectifcation of
those fountains. There are four or five
kinds Of salt that have cleansing ten
dency. So far as God may help me,
shall bring q cruise of salt to the work,
and empty it into the great reservoir of
municipal crime, sin and shame, ignorance
and abomination.
In this work Of cleansing our cities,
have first to remark that there is o work
for the broom and the shovel that nothing
else can do. There always has been an
intimate connection between iniquity and
dirt The filthy parts of the great cities
are always the most iniquitous parts. The
cutters and the pavements of the Fourth
ward, New York, illustrate and symbolic
the character of the people in the Fourth
ward.
The first thing that a bad man does
when he is converted is thoroughly to
wash himself. There were, this morning,
on the way to the different churches,
thousands of men in proper apparel who,
before their conversion were unfit in their
Sabbath dress. When on the Sabbath 1
see man uncleanly in his dress, my sus
picions in regard to his moral character
are aroused, and they are always well
founded. So as to allow no excuse for
lack of ablution, God has cleft the CONT
nents with rivers and lakes, and has sunk
five great oceans, and all the world ought
to be clean. Away, then, with the dirt
LIOIu CAulcS, AOV OSCduoC VIC
physical health needs an ablution, but be-
cause all the great moral and religious
interests of the cities demand it as posi-
tive necessity. A filthy city always has
been and always will be a wicked city.
Through the upturning of the earth for
great improvement our city could not be
expected to be as clean as usual, but |
for the illimitable dirt of Brooklyn for
the last six months there is no excuse It |
is not merely matter Of dust in the eyes,
and mud for the shoes, and of stencil for |
the nostrils, but of morals for the soul.
Another corrective influence that we |
would bring to bear upon the evils of our
great cities is Christian printing press.
The newspapers OF any place are the test
of its morality or immortality. The news
boy who runs along the streets with a roll
Of papers under his arm is tremendous
force that cannot be turned aside nor re-
sisted, and at his every step the city is
elevated or degraded. This hungry, all
devouring American mind must have
something to read, and upon editors and
authors and book publishers and parents
and teachers rest the responsibility of
what they shall read Almost every man
you meet has book in his hand or
newspaper in his pocket. What book is it
you have in your hand? What newspaper
is it you have in your pocket Ministers
may preach, reformers may plan, philan-
thropists may toll for the elevation of the
suffering and the criminal, but until all
the newspapers Of the land and oil the
booksellers of the land set themselves
against an Ubiquitous literature-until
then we shall be fighting against fearful
odds. Every time the cylinders of our
great publishing houses turn they make
the earth quake From them goes forth
thought like an angel Of light to feed and
bless the world, or like an angel of dark
ness to smite it with corruption and sin
and shame and death. May God by his
omnipotent spirit purify and elevate the
American printing press!
I go on further and say we must depend
upon the school for great deal of correct
ing influence. A community can no more
afford to have ignorant men in its midst
than it can afford to have uncaged hyenas.
Ignorance is the mother Of hydra headed
crime. Thirty-One per cent of all the
criminals Of New York state can neither
read nor write. Intellectual darkness is
generally the precursor Of moral dark
ness. / know there are educated out
n